Reeling device for fire hoses

ABSTRACT

A kind of reeling device for fire hoses, including a winch, a gearing kit that controls the winch and an operating handle is disclosed. Said device is installed on a structural rack and characterized in which of the two protruding axles arranged on the winch, one is secured and turns along with the winch and the other is movably situated at the center of the winch and controlled by the handle for telescopic movement to and from the dial of the wrench, thereby allowing the twin axles to hold and reel the fire hose and allowing the removal of fire hose easily from the winch by withdrawing one of the axles after reeling the fire hose; in addition, said device features the gearing kit for transmission of the hose through the change of number of gears of the gearing kit as a way to reel the hose with less effort than the traditional manual reeling.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to a reeling device for fire hoses, which provides a structure to manipulate the winch by means of gears, as a way to reel the hose with less effort than the traditional manual reeling.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Fire fighting is a dangerous task that demands good timing as each and every step is essential and this is true when it comes to fire hose. It is a highly skillful practice knowing to deploy the fire hose next to the fire as soon as possible without leaving fire fighters vulnerable to burn. To have the fire hose always ready for use, it is essential to have it reeled properly. In a day-to-day practice, fire fighters would manually reel a flexible fire hose containing excessive water after using it each time. This suggests a hard task, as first the fire hose would be spread out on the floor before reeling it inch by inch from a specific end. Remaining water is squeezed out in the reeling process that is supposed to be completed in one operation, or a reeled hose would become lose, requiring a new reeling. Besides, a manually reeled fire hose would show uneven side, making its storage less successful and when using it again by releasing the hose, the uneven side would keep the hose from rolling smoothly and reaching any desired spot.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] In order to solve all problems of the time-consuming effort and uneven hose by manual reeling in the traditional practice, the inventor is presenting a kind of reeling device for fire hoses that includes a winch, a gearing kit that controls the winch and an operating handle for the winch and the structural rack to house all above elements. The central axle hose on the winch comes in the form of an 8, allowing passage of the two axle centers, of which one fixed axle center passes through the eccentric position of the hole of the winch and connects one end onto the end of the axle center of the winch while the adjacent moving axle center comes in the center of the hole, having a section of thread that allows it protruding to a specific point and driving the winch by means of the gearing kit and at the same time, holding the fire hose for reeling along with the aforementioned fixed axle center or recessing from the winch dial alone, loosening the center hole that allows easy removal of the hose after reeling. The gearing kit of the invention is made of four gears, of which the first and the second gears have identical gearing ratio while the third gear that comes coaxial with the second one has fewer teeth and engages with the fourth gear having fewer teeth and coaxial with the winch, constructing thus a reducing gearing kit. The first gear is driven directly by a handle that, with the handle arm and the reducing gear, increases the torque and has the fire hose withheld between the two axle centers be reeled easily. Another characteristics of the gearing kit is that, with the handle running clockwise, the transmission in the gearing kit provided by the first, the second, the third and the fourth gear drives the winch for reeling and when turning the handle counterclockwise, only the moving axle center is threaded out, not the winch.

[0004] Other characteristics of this invention include a pair of limit rods located on the top of both sides of the structural rack that allow the fire hose be reeled between the two limit rods, eliminating thus physical fatigue in a manual reeling. On the other hand, this invention provides a long rod which, when not in use, is kept in the hollowed rod in the structural rack and when in use, it is kept in front of the winch at a distance that is roughly larger than the width of the flattened hose, making this a limit barrier to the reeling and a reeled hose would have even edges. Thanks to the operation of the aforementioned device of this invention, a troublesome, time-consuming and inaccurate hose reeling task would turn out to be an easy, effortless and practical reeling job.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0005]FIG. 1 3D layout of disassembled elements of this invention;

[0006]FIG. 2 Vertical assembly layout of this invention;

[0007]FIG. 3 Vertical assembly layout of the components of the gearing kits and the winch of this invention;

[0008]FIGS. 4, 5 Section view of the reeling structure of this invention; and

[0009]FIGS. 6, 7 Vertical assembly layout of the reeling operation of this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0010] Structures of embodiments of this invention come in FIGS. 1-3, including a winch 1, a gearing kit 2, a handle 3 and a structural rack 4, where the center of winch 1 has an axle hole 10 in the form of an 8, allowing passage of the two axle centers, of which one fixed axle center 5 passes through the top of axle hole 10 while the other moving axle center 6 passes the center of axle hole 10, having one section of the moving axle center 6 a thread 60; the gearing kit 2 is made of the first gear 20, the second gear 21, the third gear 22 and the fourth gear 23, plus the axle centers 24, 25, 26 that string the gears and the support 27 and support cap 28 for installation of these axle centers; handle 3 has a long arm 30 with one end and the perpendicular grip 31; the structural rack 4 is made of the left and right braces in transverse, with the top rod 40 available with cam lever 41 that limits the hose, beneath the rod 40 there is a parallel strip 42 that has a plurality of holes 421 allowing a retaining rod 43 to pass through the strips 42 on the left and the right (FIG. 2); brace 27 of said gearing kit 2 comes secured on the transverse rod 44 between the two foot rests of the structural rack 4 by means of brace 271, of which the top is threaded with a cap 272. The first gear 20 of the gearing kit 2 is on the brace 28 as it passes through axle center 26 and one end of axle center 25 passes through the second gear 21 and sits onto brace cap 28, while the other end passes through brace 27 and then the third gear 22, axle center 24 is mounted between the front and the rear plate of brace 27, having one end secured to winch 1 and the other end of axle center 5 into one piece, while the other end strings the fourth gear 23 before being mounted on brace 27. Axle center 6 passes through the center of axle hole 10 of winch 1 and it passes through axle center 24, the fourth and the first gear 23, 20 and the axle hole of brace 28, allowing the end be fixed on long arm 30 of handle 3.

[0011] Please refer to FIGS. 4, 5, where the principle of action of the transmission of this invention is shown, with the first gear 20 in direct engagement with the second gear 21, the third gear 22 in coaxial movement with axle center 25 and the second gear 21 before transmitting the movement to the fourth gear 23 with which it is engaged, where the first and the second gear 20, 21 have identical teeth diameter in constant speed drive and with the gear diameter of the third gear 22 inferior to that of the fourth gear 23, constructing a reducing movement the transmission from the first gear 20 to the fourth gear 23. The axle centers 24, 25 and 26 of this invention are on either brace 27 or brace cap 28 and rotate along with the gears, where axle center 24 is coupled with one end of axle center 26, but the two do not form coupled movement. A section of the inner diameter of axle center 26 forms thread 260 and is threaded with thread 60 of the moving axle center 6 thus, when turning the handle 3 clockwise, the axle center 6 moves toward the winch 1 and has the axle center 26 drive the first gear 20 when the side of the long arm 30 of the handle 3 comes against the side of axle center before transmitting the movement from the second gear 21, third gear 22 to the fourth gear 23, and transmitting the movement from the axle center 24 coupled with the fourth gear 23 to the secured winch 1. Again, between the protruding axle center 5 on the winch 1 and the moving axle center 6, a clearance 7 is formed that allows the fire hose 80 be housed in said clearance 7, being thus reeled in a roll with the winch 1. In another case, after reeling the fire hose 80, turn the handle 3 counterclockwise and the moving axle center 6 turns and retreats from the winch 1 (FIG. 5) while the gears remain still. After the moving axle center 6 retreats from the winch 1, the center hole of the fire hose roll 81 further loosens to reduce the friction created by the removal of the fire hose roll 81, allowing easy removal of the fire hose roll 81.

[0012] When reeling the fire hose 80 as suggested in this invention, the fire hose 80 ready to be reeled may be spread on top of the top rod 40 of the structural rack and be restrained within the cam lever 4, preventing the fire hose 80 from moving in a zigzag manner during the reeling. The reason why the limit is formed between the left and right side of the structural rack 4 is that when reeling the fire hose 80, the mid section extends toward both sides (FIG. 6). Again, to keep the reeled fire hose roll 81 have even edges, in particular on the other side of the winch 1, the retaining rod 43 of this invention comes in the front of the winch 1 at a distance adjustable with the hole level on the strip 42, making it roughly equal to the width of a flattened fire hose 80, constructing an limiting effect formed by the retaining rod 43, restraining the fire hose 80 when overlapping the same when reeling, reaching a water house roll 81 of flatten edges. The retaining rod 43 is freely plugged on the long strip 42 for easy removal after reeling. When removing said retaining rod 43, it can be inserted from opening 45 of the structural rack 4, for successful insertion into the hollowed structure of the structural rack 4. 

1. A kind of reeling device for fire hoses comprising the following: a winch having in its center an axle hole for passage of two axle centers; a gearing kit, including the first, the second, the third and the fourth gears and a plurality of axle centers for stringing of said gears, plus brace supporting the axle centers and brace cap; a handle, having a long arm of which one end comes in perpendicular to the grip; a structural rack, a frame that houses said winch, gearing kits and the handle for the reeling of the water house; a secured axle center, located at the eccentric position of the axle hole of said winch, having one end secured to the axle center end of the fourth gear; a moving axle, passing through the center of the axle hole of the winch and the axle centers of the fourth and the first gears, allowing one end to join the long arm of the handle, for telescopic movement to and from the dial of the winch through its rotation.
 2. A reeling device according to claim 1, wherein said gearing kit forms a reducing transmission with the first gear engaged with the second gear of identical diameter before transmitting the reeling force from the third gear in coaxial engagement with the second gear to the fourth gear in coaxial engagement with the third gear, where the diameter of the third gear is inferior to that of the fourth gear.
 3. A reeling device according to claim 1, wherein one end of the fixed axle center is connected onto the end of the axle center of the fourth gear, with the end threaded onto the surface of the axle hole of the winch.
 4. A reeling device according to claim 1, wherein the inner hole of axle center of the first gear has a threaded section that allows it to be engaged by threading with the thread of the moving axle center and when the handle drives the moving axle center to the handle end against one end of the axle center of the first gear, drives the first gear.
 5. A reeling device according to claim 1, wherein top of said structural rack comes with 2 parallel protruding rods having 2 spaced cam levers on its top.
 6. A reeling device according to claim 5, wherein said flattened body of the fire hose, when reeled, is housed between the two cam levers.
 7. A reeling device according to claim 1, wherein said structural rack includes a retaining lever that is freely inserted in the transverse between the two strips protruded in parallel.
 8. A reeling device according to claim 7, wherein said retaining rod is located in the transverse in front of the winch at a distance.
 9. A reeling device according to claim 7, wherein said retaining rod can be kept in the hollowed structure of the structural rack.
 10. A reeling device according to claim 1, wherein the assembly kit of said gearing kit, the winch and the handle is located on the transverse rod between the left and the right foot rests.
 11. A reeling device according to claim 1, wherein a clearance is formed between the fixed and the moving axle centers on the winch.
 12. A reeling device according to claim 11, wherein the fire hose is reeled through the clearance formed between the fixed and the moving axle centers in mid section withheld in the hose 